The circumstantial media activist – an analysis of the relation between media and political representation

Abstract

Alternative or radical media (Downing, 2000) are kinds of media production common among social movements whose members do not see their causes represented in mainstream media. This is the case of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), which since 1984 has created media outlets and produced content for different platforms, becoming later active in the area of media and communication rights in Brazil. Based on fieldwork carried out in 2013 and 2014 this article proposes a perspective to communication rights is attentive to the structural configuration of media landscape and not only to the provision of technology and production skills. This study shows that collective action and promotion of structural change are still relevant alongside new technologies.